Rebel is Raven's brother, and even more dazzling than his sister. He wasn't happy as part of our pack, so made his home for four years with my friend Eva LaMar, who also holistically cares for her dogs. He finished his championship at the age of two.

Although I could tell that Rebel wasn't fully happy living with such a large family of dogs, I hoped that as he grew up he'd settle into it. His sister Raven was happy, my other dogs were happy; I wanted Rebel to be happy, too!

When Eva's beloved deerhound Nenya died unexpectedly, her other deerhound, Qwilleran, went into a terrible decline. In an effort to cheer him up, we met at the beach for a playdate and brought Rebel and Raven.

Qwill and Rebel took to each other right away, and Eva asked if she could bring Rebel home for a sleepover. Of course, I said yes, and Rebel ended up becoming a permanent buddy for Qwill. However, Qwill had some health problems down the road, and started showing some grumpiness to Rebel. After a lot of soul searching, Eva asked if Rebel could come back to us, and once again, of course we said YES!

No sooner had Rebel arrived, though, but I noticed he was having difficulty urinating. While my head kept saying "Maybe it's only a urinary tract infection," my heart felt pretty sure it would be cystinuria. And my heart was right.

For those keeping track of these things, here is a copy of Rebel's pedigree. (Canine cystinuria is a genetic kidney defect.)

Rebel had surgery to remove the blockage and create a new opening for him to urinate out of, in a procedure called a pre-scrotal urethrostomy. For more information on canine cystinuria in Scottish Deerhounds, visit my Canine Cystinuria Page.